Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1887-11-26

him certain peculiarities in the use of ital-
les, h-acketed words, ETC.. that there was a
6xed purpose in this use of the types, and
that he reasons out was TO mark the cipher
Or concealed writing As there have been
many mysteries in literature, and as
Sir Francis Bacon delighted in cryto-
granny, and the authorship of the plays
accredited to Shakespeare has never been
a closed question, Mr.. Donnelly's work be-
comes one of peculiag and even of roman
tic interest. One OF the most curioas of
the claims OF Donne.ly is that the cipher he
has discovered reci,es in part the secret his
tory of the life of Queen Elizabeth
in plays that monarch applauded,
which he concludes must have |
been Source of intense secret |
qualification or mirth TO Bacon. " The |
Narrative " of the cipher, which concludes |
the second part of the Demonstration, " is |
very strange and attractive tale, embraced |;
in twenty-five chapters. OEe of these Pro |
fessor Thomas Davidson, IN the New York |
Herld, has given in part, end We reproduce |
it as indicative OF the revelations Donnesly |
claims 10 make froa the text of |
Shakespeare, through the use of |
the first and second Henry ", |
beyond which he has not applied the |
cipher, for he is not certain that different |
one is not used tor each play. He is pos
tive that cipher Of some kind is con-
cealed in every play, and in the sonnets |
Professor Davidson says:
Here is a portion of chap. tx, containing the |
story OF the Queens treatment of Hayward the |
writer of the Reasonable History of Henry ": |
" Her Grace was In fearful passion, and
rising up, struck your poor friend with
the steel end of her biz heavy crltch |
The poor wretch took to his heels. bnt the
ill-tempered OH jade followed him. striking him
again and again on the head and sides OF his
body. His health was not good, his limbs
were weakened with fever he had had His
joints gave way under him, and he
fell to the earth. She doth bestride
| him and takes him by the beard and bending
down, beats him till the stick breaks Such is
| the pleasant picture which the cipher narrative
gives of Elizabeth. Other parts OF the narrative
| are equally graphic. The chief actors in it are
Bacon, Shakespeare, Robert Cecil and Harry
Percy. The low, degraded character of Shakes
| peare comes out in all its details. When Cecil
communicates to the Queen his suspi-
| cions regarding the authorship of the PLAYS and
| The Queen, refusing to believe him, orders
Shakespeare's arrest, Bacon sends the faithful
Harry Percy TO strattoTd 10 warn Shakespeare
| to flee the country. This gives an opportunity
| to describe Shakespeare, his house, his family
and his surroundings. Even the supper is de-
scrlped, ana IS by no means appetizing-dried
CAKES, 1noldy ana ancient; roast mutton pretty
high ana pertaining the room; bitter beer etc
| No wonder that Percy felt sick. The result
OF the VISIT was that Shakespeare was
induced to flee the country. Such is the
| barest outline of an extensive narrative which
| Mr.. Donneily has worked out but which he con-
ceives to be out the earnest of much lonperOne
| 1t is certainly startling IN the highest degree
| and Mr.. Donnelly cannot expect 10 have il ac-
| cepted without struggle. There is some con
| ISOLATION in thinking that, if he should fail to
| convince people of the historical truth of his
narrative he IN easily turn it into an historical
| novel, which, venture to predict will enjoy
| wide popularity.
From the Bancroft Company, San Fran
cisco, we have Harper Bros. New York
edition of Henry Charles Leafs " History
of the 1nquisition of the Middle Ages
| tavo, of nearly 600 pages each,
and sells at So a volume. Vol,
| umes and are out and volume will
be ready in February. Mr.. Lea will be re-
membered as the author of AN Historical
Sketch of Sacerdotal Celibacy," Studies
in Church History" and Superstition
| and Force" No comprehensive history
of the Inquisition, based on the re-
| suits OF modern scholarship, has vet been
attempted. Llorentes work covers oply
the Spanish Inquisition of modern times.
| and the same is true of the book of Mel
cares Marin. Tamburini's four volumes in
Italian are unsymmetrical and unsatisfy-
ing, and Hoffmans are little better. Rod
ergo apologized for the Inquisition. and
Rule looked upon the tribunal from a pre-
| JUDGED standpoint. No writer on the In
patience
the courage to investigate the social. the
spiritual, and the intellectual condition of
| medieval Europe, out of which arose, as a
necessary development of the forces at
work, that Institution which for so many
| centuries sought, with more or less sue
cess. to tetter the human mind No one is
| fitted for the execution of such task who
| Is not tolerant to the point OF tolerating in
tolerance. The author of this valuable
| hnn haC 1nl
point, and in tolerant and wholly impsr-
tial spirit. His previous writings have
| made him known as an earnest student of
| medieval institutions. and have fitted him
| for the present undertaking. For fifteen
I years he has been collecting material for II
| which has grown enormously through the
researches of scholars, and which has not
hitherto been utilized for such purpose
| He has had correspondents at work in all
the libraries and archives where imprinted
records are to be found, aud he has Thus
obtained large amount of new matter.
much OF which throws valuable light on
many hitherto obscure points He has de-
voted special attention to the peculiar LEGAL
processes devised and introduced by the IN
| QUESTION, and in these has found an explain
alton of much that has hitherto been blind
and unsatisfactory explained. The work
will command the attention OF all scholars
n
mand their respect and confidence The
passage halfway through volume leads
us to that conclusion and to anticipate its
confirmation when we come to the latter
pages.
The Atlantic Monthly" (Hougbton.
| Miffiin & Co, BOSTON,, for December. pre'
sents this table of contents in addition to
the editorial departments: THE Thral.
| dom of Japan" L. II. House; 1.-The Sec
ond Son." NJ. O.W. Oliphant and T. B.
Aldrich; Robert Louis Stevenson. Sophia
Kirk; At Chrystemesse-Tyde,'' Willis
| Boyd Allen: Some Aspects of Pessimism."
Agnes Repplier; French and English"
| Seventh paper, Philip Gilbert Hamerton
"a At Pinney's Ranch,' Edward BeIIamv
ION Photograph Received from Friend
in Rome" I. w. Parsons; Paul Jones
and the Armed Neutrality John Fiske:
! Island Democracy in the Caspian." Ed
mund Noble Paul Patoff," Il. Marion
| Crawford OF One Who is Deaf" Edith
NJ. Thomas; THE Soul of the Far East
Nv. Religion; V. Imagination, Percival
| Lowell; AT the Funeral of Minor Poet"
Thomas Bailey Aldrich
THE Story of New York House is
| by ii. Z. Bunner illustrated by a d. Frost;
one vol, limo, 81 %. Mr.. Burners story
! has had the rare good fortune to meet the
commentator of about all classes of novel
/ readers. The scene is for the NEST part
laid in old NewtYork, though the story ,ol-
Itiows the varying fortunes of an old family
mansion down almost to the present and
the whole has the attractiveness which at
saehes only TO field of fiction absolutely
new: 1t need hardly be said that Mr.. Bnn.
ner has made the most of his Opportunity.
be, has written a story of poetical charm
and beauty. San francisco: The Renc~off
Company. New Ycrk: Chas. Scribner's
| Sons.
I From Samuel Carson & Co., San Fran
CISCO, we have large richly-boun auarto
| retailing at So 20, EMIT ed " A Bunch of Nj
diets, Gathered by Irene e. Jerome" II is.
splendid holiday giftsook, with sosae of.
the NEST delicate engrayings on wood tby
| George Y. Andrew it las been our nrfy-
ilese to examine. TIE text is in QUAINT .
letter ana from favorite poets The.pictures
| are all of violets and pleasant LANDSCAPES
The pressNork is upon heaviest calandered
shee<s and is as fine an example of that work
as car berfound.
Frosn the Bancroft Company, San Fran
cisco, %e have Chas. Scribners new issue of
The Buchalz Family" second part